Ric Flair recently called into the Dan LeBatard Show to talk about his current health and recovery; you can read a few transcribed highlights (via ESPN.com‘s Tim Fiorvanti) below:
Ric Flair talks about when he started to feel sick, and how bad his condition was in the hospital:
“I got sick. I had eaten some raw oysters and I told Wendy I didn’t feel right,” said Flair. “She took me over to the hospital on the eleventh of August, and by the 14th I was on life support.”
“They told my kids that everything had shut down — kidney failure, congestive heart failure, everything shut down. The joke was, with the doctors, that the only thing that was alive and kicking, sitting at the bar waiting for me, was my liver.
What I remember was that I couldn’t talk, but I could hear people talking about me. Which is even scarier.”
Flair says he was drinking socially to keep up appearances as the ‘Ric Flair’ character, but didn’t drink alone at home:
“You’ve seen movies where the guy’s got the little pint of liquor hidden someplace in his closet or drawer, or he’s carrying around a flask, where he just has to have the bottle there. I never, in my life, have drank at home, alone. The social part, that was me.”
Flair thanked those who helped him when he was in need:
“I’m happy for the people who put up with my bulls— over there, because I was hard to get along with, man. You’re sitting there, pushing a button to get someone to help you, you can’t go to the bathroom and you need someone to walk with you. I’m lucky that I had a congenial crew to work with that liked me as well.”
Flair also said at the peak of his drinking while actively wrestling, he consumed “between 3,700 and 4,000 calories worth of booze — soda or a splash of cranberry — every day. Like 20 drinks a day.”
When co-host Sarah Spain asked if he could be Ric Flair and not drink anymore, Flair simply said ‘yes.’
